The ability to evolve and the agility to pivot in response to trends are crucibles upon which marketers’ work is often judged by consumers and organizations alike. One area in which this is especially apparent is content marketing. As surely as digital content marketing has become elemental, so too has the Web’s indiscriminate urge to disrupt it. – dmnews.com

How many times have you taken some sort of assessment or quiz online for fun?

Maybe it was a searcher behavior quiz (SEO) or a content marketing assessment that you accessed, to learn more about what you might be missing.

Or, maybe you took an assessment or tried a useful calculator from a known, online brand?

The bottom line is that unless you have been living underneath a rock, you have heard or seen a number of different quizzes on a wide variety of subjects online.

These quizzes are actually everywhere, so it is normal that you will see them going across your news-feed and taking over a big part of your social media experience.

They are becoming more and more popular in use for B2B marketing professionals as well.

“People aren’t satisfied with one-way communication anymore; they want to participate in a conversation. This is where interactive content comes into play. Instead of creating long, static documents, consider creating ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style assets”
– Peter Arvai, CEO of presentation software company Prezi

“The shift from the traditional “click->landingpage->emailcapture->provideanswers” is turned on it’s head, of sorts. It’s about solving problems first, and providing (immediate) answers and leveraging content marketing second.”

However, these quizzes and interactive content engines are actually used for a whole lot more than simply taking up some time or as a fun way to brag to your friends about the great results that you got on a quiz.

These online quizzes are actually a powerful framework and toolset that you can use for lead generation and viral engagement for your website.

Examples of interactive content tools you can add to your websites, blogs and social media channels:

• Quizzes
• Calculators (CNN Money tools)
• Configurators (think Dell computer buying)
• Guided Tours
• Lookbooks (example from lookbooks.com)
• Galleries

All you have to do is strategically place an email capture just in front of the results of the quiz.

Most of the quiz takers are going to be itching to find out what their results are, so the best quizzes will actually fall in line with about a 50% opt-in rate. Plus, the lead quality is often higher.

Take the Chaosmap Content Marketing Quiz right now. (Disclaimer: This is our software, developed as a WordPress plugin)

When you want to be able to use a quiz on your website to help you with some great lead generation you will find that there are some major ways that you can really maximize your conversion rates.

A recent study from B2B Content Marketing Trends showed that ‘Producing Engaging Content’ was the biggest challenge, right before ‘Measuring Content Effectiveness’. 

A new breed of marketing talent and content know-how will be needed, because interactive content also requires design and development expertise.

How to start building interactive content?

To begin a interactive content strategy, ask what data you want, and what service your buyers want.

Compare and contrast with what your sales teams want. Ask them to cooperate on building a quiz for the highest MQL‘s (marketing qualified leads) possible. Always keep your intended audience in mind first. How can this quiz really help them make decisions?

You’ll begin to see a positive shift in your sales accepted leads (SAL), all while your are educating and helping your customers and prospects. That’s a winning formula.

Another example is what Dell has done with their Mobile Assessment – it’s an interactive quiz. And, it is helping your IT leadership understand, prepare and take action on the IT concerns that exist within this topic. Dell provides value first.

Connection Is Crucial

A popular trend today is that the highest converting quizzes are doing a great job of building up a decent rapport with their quiz takers well before they present the offer to opt-in.

As a person looking around online today, we all enjoy the ability to have a great conversation.

Talking with another person is a process that releases Oxytocin, which is a drug in the human body that makes us feel good.

These quizzes that are able to succeed on a conversational level are also those that generate the most leads.

In order to do so, you need to be able to create a connection, which can be done by using your personality.

Here’s an example of what Orbitz has done with a fun travel quiz:

Any quiz that comes off as having personality will have the feel of being more human, which will then help the quiz taker to feel more comfortable so that they are willing to fill in their email address.

Wit and charm can go a long way to make someone feel as though they are talking to a real person when filling out a quiz that is filled with snark and personality.

Additionally, you can take the initiative to create your quiz as though you are talking to an actual person.

This can be done simply by thinking about a person that would enjoy your content or the quiz and write it as though you are speaking directly to them.

Stay Relevant

If you are putting together a quiz for your website that is going to be all about content marketing, you need to have a call to action that has to be about CONTENT MARKETING.

By the same token, if you are putting together a quiz on sharpening your writing skills, the call to action has to be about writing skills.

Basically speaking, the content has to be able to provide an experience that is continuous in order to captivate a quiz taker and there should be no call to action that is a surprise.

Understand Lead Generation

If you are going to be asking for permission to send emails to someone, you need to understand how the trade of lead generation works.

The emails are entering into their inbox and they will end up taking up space and the quiz taker’s valuable time.

Because you are asking for something of value, you need to be able to give them something that is valuable in return.

With each quiz that you are using for lead generation, the value will be in the results. This will mean that the more involved the quiz is, the more valuable your results will be.

You need to remember that having the approval to email someone is something that you should not take lightly.

We recommend displaying the results right after the quiz, and not holding the quiz taker ‘hostage’. Provide the results and recommendations, but allow them to download the results and get more relevant information by entering their name & email. (Note: test this for your own market!)

Solve A Problem

If a customer is going to be asking you a question, the chances are that there were other customers that have had the same question whether they realize it or not.

Some of these customers may simply be too shy to bring up the question or they just feel as though they would not enjoy the answer to the particular question.

Answering the questions that any of your current or potential customers may have will be the perfect way to generate content that you know they will appreciate.

Positive Is Always Better Than Negative

The bottom line is that there are two ways that you can offer your help:

1. One way is telling quiz takers that they are in trouble and they need your services so that they can get out of trouble.
2. The other way is to tell people that they are great, they just need your services to make them even better than they are currently.

Some of the quizzes that are the highest converting are those that will give people fun and really helpful answers to the questions that they have or those that are going to test them on their knowledge or expertise.

Social sharing / viral opportunity

Everyone likes to hear that they scored better than a friend or a family member on a quiz, so they will be more than likely to take the quiz themselves so that they can have bragging rights.

Keep your quizzes to the point, make sure that they load easily and always be strategic about the content that you have as well as the placement of your opt-in form.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, you will see that a well planned out quiz and interactive content can be a perfect viral engagement tool for your website.

Make sure to add social widgets (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn share buttons) and create sharing texts that entice the audience to take it also.

The power of the interactive content marketing model actually lies in the personalization. So, make sure that you are smart about the lead boxes that you use and have fun with your quiz options.

Brands can take their content marketing to new levels with interactive content and quizzes while providing great value, and making their sales teams excited about the new daily leads they get.

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